Veteran sports writer Jim Utter covers NASCAR for The Charlotte Observer and its racing site, ThatsRacin.com. In this space, Jim writes about all things NASCAR and other forms of racing which may also be relevant ... or not.

Friday, April 26, 2013

NASCAR's Pemberton: "We're here to regulate the rulebook"

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition, addressed the media Friday at Richmond International Raceway about the penalties NASCAR handed down to Matt Kenseth's No. 20 Toyota team earlier this week.

Here is Pemberton's opening statement:

"Over
the last two or three weeks as everybody knows, we've had some significant
penalties and they're in all areas of the rule book.We're here to
not judge these penalties, whether they are performance enhancing, but we're
really here just to regulate the rule book.

"We've got the rules in
play.They're put there a lot of times by NASCAR, but with input
from the teams, manufacturers and outside experts, and it's our job to manage
those rules and manage that rule book as it relates to the garage area.The emphasis, as everyone knows, it's about safety, it's about
competition, and it's about cost‑containment.

"So moving forward it's our job
to just regulate the rule book.In the rule book there are
different facets and we've put parameters in that are weights, measures,
heights, dimensions coordinates to build chassis and bodies, and it's in quite
detail.So the teams know where they can and can't go, and there
are areas that they can work in.Those are the areas between the
measurements where we do give both ends of it, whether it's high or low or heavy
or light.

"That being said, it's like I
said, we're not here to judge the performance on any of these.We
are strictly here to regulate the rule book and keep a level playing field for
the garage area in which to work and make sure everybody gets a fair chance at
competing."